“Guys We Despise”: Missed the Cut

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be unveiling a list. After careful consideration by the lot of Phillies Nation writers, we’ve come up with the players, teams, coaches, and umpires throughout baseball that we just don’t like. That is, on the baseball field, of course.

Manny was always being Manny. (AP)

You know, the guys that the Phillies just can’t get out. The people that just annoy you to no end. The Phillie killers, so to speak.

Well, the votes are in and we have a Top 10 coming your way, plus some of the guy who missed the cut, so to speak. That’s where we begin:

-If you remember the NLCS’s between the Phillies and Dodgers, you remember Matt Stairs‘ homers, the collapse and downfall of Jonathan Broxton, and the incredible heroics by Jimmy Rollins. What you might not remember is how Manny Ramirez haunted the Phillies both times. If you don’t, you should.

Not only do we dislike Manny for being Manny, we dislike him because he often killed the Phillies during his short stint in the National League.

Our own Don McGettigan on Manny: “Another showboat, another cheater. “Manny being Manny” made me hate the guy.”

-Put on this list by Corey Seidman, it’s apparent why; they stung the Phillies at ever opportunity during their days at the top of the Florida Marlins order. “There is nothing more frustrating than giving up singles to players, knowing they’ll end up being much more than singles,” says Corey. “I’d have preferred long home runs to all the slow burning of the top of the Marlins order in the early 2000s.”

That pretty much sums up what we all feel about the two. Pierre stole 40 bases in 91 games against the Phils in his career, posting a .310 average over 427 plate appearances. Castillo’s numbers weren’t as spectacular, but over roughly a full season against the Phillies (621 PA’s), he stole 24 bases and walked 71 times while only striking out 73 times. He was annoying, too.

If you combine the two, how much more successful are they than the Eagles defensive coordinator of the same name? Hmm…

-I call him the gnat. Corey Seidman can’t stand what he used to do to the Phillies, as he pointed out in PN TV last week. Hard to blame him. Diaz has hit 43 career home runs, with eight of them coming against the Phils. Eight! He really did a ton of damage against the NL East, but not really against anyone else outside of it.

-Garcia makes this list more for what he didn’t do with the Phillies. You remember the trade and the subsequent garbage he threw up there as a member of the team.

One of our contributors, Nick McIlwain from the Preston and Steve show on 93.3 WMMR said this about Freddy: “This is the only Phillie I’m going to put on my list. There have been plenty of bad free agent signings and bad trades over the years, but this one pissed me off the most. One win for $10 million and he failed to leg out a run to first base. A total bust and it never even seemed to bother the guy.”

Pretty much sums it up. He didn’t give a crap about being injured and stinking up the joint; at least not outwardly. And when you do that in Philly, you are an enemy.

-Maybe we don’t despise Curt Schilling, but there are plenty of people out there who were bothered when he asked out of Philly to win a title. You can hardly blame him for it, because at the time the team was downright garbage. It’s also the extra-curricular stuff that bothers everyone. Not only did he win titles elsewhere, he’s always seemingly poking his head in places it shouldn’t be.

You know, I never really hated the 90’s Braves. The Phillies were usually not a factor in the division title in that decade so it made it hard for me to root against anyone. Now once we got into the 2000s and we started making a run, then I started hating them.

I understand what you mean but I always had a lot of respect for the way the Braves built their team. Its kinda like the way I look at the Cardinals. I have a lot of respect for St. Louis so it is hard for me to hate them. I may dislike them for beating us last year but not full hatred.

The strange thing is that I don’t recall ever feeling jealous of any team in particular in the 90s. I think the combination of the strike in 94 and being bad for years afterwards just crushed my hopes so badly that a championship seemed so far away that it was impossible for me to even be jealous.

@ Mazinman – that was my exact stance too . . . . the only year we were really good was 1993 – besides that, the Braves run of success didn’t really prevent us from doing anything . .

14 consectuive division crowns, but only 1 titles in that span .. 1-4 record in the World Series, it’s great to get there, but heartbreaking to lose

and with their lack of titles – when fewer teams made the playoffs …
if the Phillies can manage another World Series win in the next year or two .. I think that some would argue 5, 6, or 7 NL East Titles, with 2 World Series wins could be more impressive..??

That’s an interesting comparison to make Don especially starting this year. We are moving into a hyper competitive era in the NL East where every team except the Mets have a realistic shot at competing. Winning more division titles in this era will be very impressive indeed. I would not complain to have more World Series titles to make the comparison easier though.

You can’t hate Garcia without hating Adam Eaton even more: the guy who, in his own words, helped them win in 2008.

Another person to hate is Tim McCarver, who, although also a former Phil, has never seemed to admit that the current team is good and makes incredibly stupid statements about baseball in general.

It’s interesting that some former hates, like PIerre, are now with the team, and others, like Davey Lopes, have also played important parts with the Phils. It’s also intriguing that fan favorites, like Lenny Dykstra, have sometimes proven to be real a$$holes.

Have to agree about Barajas. He was worse than useless while with the Phils. Maybe Pat will include him later.

I think Reyes is mostly just annoying. The Mets have been a non-factor for a few years now, so he hasn’t done a lot of harm. It should be interesting to see if Miami makes us hate him again. They’ve got so many other hotshots, like Ramirez and Zambrano, I’m not sure Reyes will be singled out.

side note..
He got booed last year too, and it baffled me … new fans don’t know how/why to boo guys – you don’t boo every former player, only ones that burned you (I don’t boo Werth – because the Phillies didn’t offer anything close to what the Nats did and every single player in baseball would’ve taken $126 M …over $60 M

And all the people that said last year, “well the Nats suck, he just wanted the money” … Nats sure aren’t looking too bad right now … lots of young talent, that looks like the could challenge in the years to come

Two separate years in Clearwater Dobbs blew us off on his way to the parking lot….along with other fans…when guys ALL AROUND HIM were chatting and signing. Important guys like Ibanez and Hamels. Dobbs just arrogantly walked by. My thought was “Geez, you don’t even have to goods to act like that.” And I get that guys can’t always stop and talk and sign. Especially the Howards and the Utleys of the world. But this dude was a BENCH PLAYER.

Look, I appreciate everything the man did to help the Phillies win it all in 2008. But in 2010….after a year in which he pretty much sucked at everything….you would think he might be a bit more gracious to the fanbase.

And I agree about the Werth thing. Makes no sense to me why someone would choose to boo him for taking the money…money that EVERY SINGLE PERSON with a right mind would take.

Maybe Dobbs had to get home to a bitchy wife. Maybe he thought no one would want his autogragh when they could so easily get Hamels’ and Ibanez’s. Maybe as a bench player, he felt it would be arrogant to hang around waiting to sign things. Maybe he’s shy.

Then again, maybe he really is a jerk. His quotes about Florida being the team to beat this year sort of indicates that.

I agree with Schilling, actually, he should be in the top 10. It sickens me to know that one day that jackass will go in the Hall of Fame. I think we should show up and wear towels over our heads for his induction.

Rod Barajas and Adam Eaton were bad. Andy Ashby was a disaster. All could merit inclusion.

As far as those we couldn’t get out, Hideki Matsui. Rick Dempsey and Cody Ross top my list. I hope they make yours.